deceptive reflections
by ImSoHungry
Summary: Bay is a college student who's normal life is turned upside down after the mysterious death of a young girl. Discovering that she does not belong in this world, Bay is forced to leave her old life behind her and enter a place inhabited by elves, dwarves, and unimaginable threats. possible Legolas/OC pairing, please give this a go :)
1. Chapter 1

The frost covered leaves crunched beneath undersized wellingtons as she ran, wide innocent eyes roaming the darkening woodland for a hiding place. Making sure to stomp in each muddy puddle she passed, the young girl soon became breathless with fatigue and stopped up short in front of the wide trunk of an oak tree. Its large roots were exposed, forming a hollow; a small space yet perfect concealment for a small child. Grinning with triumph at her choicest discovery, she crawled stealthily beneath the tree, her little mitten clad fists rubbing together in an attempt to fight off the cold Autumn air. She always won at hide-and-seek and intended this time to be no exception.

She amused herself for a while by breathing out billowing white clouds into the frosty air. But after five uneventful minutes had passed, the girl started to become impatient for a sign of her friends. Her keen ears detected no approaching footsteps, no sign of another living soul. She began to consider that maybe she shouldn't have chosen such an obscure hiding place, as the chill of the approaching evening was beginning to sink to her bones. The woods had already grown darker in that small while, and a feeling of unease was beginning to settle in the pit of her stomach. Maybe it was just her imagination, but it was as though her surroundings were suddenly a little too silent. The casual scurrying of squirrels and the chattering of birds in the canopy above were no longer existent. Her position in the constricted space was becoming increasingly uncomfortable, and she had just formed her decision to give up and find her friends, when she heard it.

The tell-tale snap of a twig alerted her to the fact that she was no longer in solitude. Sinking further back into the hollow of the tree, she waited silently with renewed excitement. She considered calling out in exasperation over how long it had taken them to find her, when the approaching figure came into her view. It was not one of her friends. The tall stranger looked weird, she thought. Their identity was concealed behind the hood of a long black cloak, trailing over the crisp fallen leaves slowly, with purpose. This hooded person whoever they were, seemed to be unaware that they had company, and instincts were telling the small girl not to reveal herself. Her eyes searched the approaching stranger with fearful curiosity, yet it was what she saw behind them that made her body freeze over in horror. Floating along unsupported was a small unconscious human body. Her friend's body.

The hooded figure and the unconscious girl weaved their way through the thickets of tall trees until they reached the clearing in front of her hiding place. She was unable to look away, unable to move as pure dread engulfed her. The stranger had stopped in the clearing, and proceeded to draw a large circle into the soil with a stick, and the unconscious airborne girl drifted slowly to the ground to rest at its centre. From beneath the cloak, they withdrew a dagger, with a blade which seemed to be formed from black glass. Kneeling down by their victim, words began to flow from beneath the hood like a chant. Strange words. The girl did not recognise them, yet she thought there was a kind of magic to them; a danger which rang out in the stillness. She wanted to run, to yell out for help but her legs were limp, and she supposed she would be caught in any case. So, she watched helplessly as though transfixed, as the dark figure finished their chant and drove the blade into their victim's chest.

Unable to stop herself, the girl let out a terrified screamed and made as if to run from the scene. The hooded face looked up calmly, locating the new source of disturbance, and uttered more unfamiliar syllables. The small girl suddenly found herself paralysed, by fear or magic she didn't know, but what she did know was that her friend on the ground had begun to writhe viciously. ''Foolish child,'' sighed the coldly amused voice, ''you ought to have remained silent''. Heart pounding wildly in her chest, she saw the body on the ground become abruptly motionless. With an air of resigned indifference, the stranger spoke another unrecognisable word, and to the girl's horror, the body rose slowly from the ground. Blood was no longer leaking from the stab wound, but it was instead oozing a black tar-like substance. Revealing a pair of completely black eyes, she launched herself at the motionless screaming girl.

Bay awoke with a start, breathing as if she had just run ten miles. She flicked on her bedside lamp, squinting slightly at the sudden brightness filling her small bedroom. It was already half past seven according to the alarm clock perched on her chest of drawers. 'Fucking great,' she thought resentfully, for she had never been a morning person. With an effort, she dragged herself out of her warm bed and crossed to the window, scowling down at the busy London street. The sky was beginning to lighten as she watched several hard core partygoers stumbling along the pavement below, but her mind was elsewhere. She supposed the gruesome dream was just a side effect of binge watching A Game of Thrones last night.

An elaborate hand mirror rested on the windowsill where she stood. It was unlike anything else in the poorly furnished bedroom, for its handle and frame were carved beautifully from mahogany in the shape of ivy vines. On many examinations of the mysterious object, she had noticed what looked like runes carved at the base of the handle, but she had been unable to interpret their meaning anywhere. She was unsure of how such a beautiful and mysterious item had come into her possession, for she had had it for longer than she could remember; even before her adoption at age three. Bay picked it up to inspect her tired face, and frightened herself for a second by imagining that she had seen a pair of completely black eyes reflected on the glassy surface. Shaking away her overactive imagination, she saw that the tired eyes peering back at her were dark green. The slim freckled face looked to belong to a girl of about eighteen years, several piercings lined her ears and a small stud decorated the side of her nose. Bay let out a frustrated sigh at the sight of her extreme case of bed-head and attempted to drag a brush through the abomination of pastel purple hair.

The phone on the bedside table buzzed loudly and crossing the room, Bay smiled when she found it to be a text from her mum. Despite growing up with a police officer for a parent, her upbringing hadn't been as strict as most people seemed to imagine. Her mum behaved more like her best friend, and they had a good relationship. Preparing herself for the embarrassment of seeing her mum's attempt on slang, the smile quickly slid of her face to be replaced with a look of horror as she read;

'Hey gorgeous, I was called 2 office early 2day so just letting u know that I won't be back until L8 2night. A little girl has been found dead in the woods in Watford. C u L8r and have a nice day in college xx.'

-Author notes

This is my first story so thanks so much for reading! sorry if it's a little meh. I have a rough idea of where the story will go but nothing is set in stone yet. Please feel free to review, it would be nice to hear your thoughts on Bay and the plot so far, constructive criticism and ideas also welcome :)


	2. Chapter 2

That day in college, Bay couldn't walk five paces down the hallways without overhearing nervous discussions regarding the mysterious murder. Huddles of students seemed to gather in the corridors during break times and in-between lessons, spreading the gossip and debating wild theories which were becoming increasingly outrageous as the day went on. ''Why is it such big news to everyone? It's not like crime is exactly uncommon in big cities,'' snapped Ava, as she, Jackson and Bay passed a particularly loud guy trying to convince his stubborn friend that the illuminati had a hand in it.

''Yeah, but it's not the fact that someone _has_ been killed, it's _how_ she was killed that's interesting everyone so much,'' Jackson countered avidly. Those who had bothered to browse the news channels that morning had been quick to spread the gruesome details of how the corpse was discovered. ''The girl was completely ravaged!'' he explained, though the entire college already knew this by now.

''Probably by an animal or something.'' Retorted Ava.

''Then explain the child-sized bite marks which were found all over the body.'' Jackson countered confidently, ''Explain why another girl from the same street as her went missing around the same time.''

Bay had remained silent throughout the conversation, unwilling to debate the topic. She, upon receiving her mum's text, had flicked on the TV to see what BBC News had to say, and found her worst fears to be confirmed. An image of the victim and the missing child had been broadcasted, and Bay realised with aching dread that she recognised the two small girls on the screen, smiling sweetly in their school photographs.

Confused and horrified, Bay had been puzzling over how she had managed to dream of those children, which she had never seen before in her life, only to find out the next morning that they were real people who were now missing or dead. With increasing self-doubt over her sanity, she dared not repeat her ventures of last night to her friends, for fear of sounding completely mad. Her one comfort was the thought that her dream couldn't possibly be a reflection of the real event. After all, she had seen a cloaked stranger with apparent magical powers, and a girl come back to life with frightening demonic eyes. That surely couldn't be what _actually_ happened? Bay was very aware of her propensity for eccentric dreams, as she was frequently subjected to night time visits from elves, goblins and ugly monstrous humanoid creatures. She decided that this dream was just like any of her other bizarre dreams. A coincidence, that was all.

''Look Bay it's your stalker!'' Jackson's sudden amused observation dragged Bay's thoughts sharply back to the present, and she became conscious that they were now standing outside in the frosty yard. Following the direction of her friend's gazes, she watched one of the college cleaners placing a few rubbish bags into the recycling bins in the adjacent car park. The young woman had apparently been watching them, but upon noticing their curious stares, quickly looked away and continued with her business. Jackson and Ava snickered, and the corners of Bay's mouth twitched upwards in embarrassed amusement. It was an ongoing joke between them that this cleaner was following her, because she always seemed to be lurking in the background of Bay's life. Bay recognised her as a dinner-lady from her elementary school, a previous neighbour, and even had a very faint recollection of her working as a cleaner in her old orphanage.

''Wouldn't mind if she followed me around,'' Ava bantered, ''she is FIT.'' Bay laughed.

''When you're done crushing on the staff, can we go inside?'' teased Jackson, ''I'm bloody freezing.''

That evening, Bay found herself sitting at her window, looking down at a blank page and wishing her English essay would write itself. She was not able to concentrate on her work, as impatience for her mum to get home was becoming overwhelming. Along with wanting to hear any new information that the police may have uncovered, Bay also felt anxious at the idea of her mum being out at the scene of the crime in the growing darkness. 'What if whatever killed that little girl is still lurking around in those woods' she thought, and the image of a dark hooded stranger and an undead child swam into her mind again. Attempting to distract herself, she picked up the ornate mirror still resting on the windowsill and began to wipe off her makeup. She then proceeded to undress, revealing a tall, slight frame decorated with a few intricate tattoos. Abstract colours and patterns ran down her arms, and a small watercolour turtle swam on her shoulder blade.

Pulling a baggy t shirt over her head, Bay crossed back to the window and stiffly resumed her position there. Thinking that she heard movement outside her house, she instinctively glanced down into the lamp lit street below, expecting her mums return. It wasn't her mum, but sure enough there was someone there, standing on the opposite pavement and staring up directly at her. Bay's blood went cold. There were no whites to the deadly black eyes which watched her unblinkingly. The material of her jumper carried a large black stain where the knife had penetrated her flesh. The small child was still recognisable to the televised smiling girl in the school photograph, yet her skin was now a greyish colour, and her face expressionless. Bay had only seen her for a second when she turned and ran down the back alley behind her, darkness swallowing her almost immediately. Seeing the girl from behind as she had retreated, Bay thought that the small figure looked just like any other child, and this scared her more than the sight of her dead eyes. She rather thought that the child had made as if to walk towards the house, and then decided against it.

The cause of her sudden departure became imminently apparent, however, as Bay noticed the presence of another being in the street below, who had just appeared from behind her next-door neighbours hedging. The new arrival sprinted after the retreating child, stealing a glance up at Bay's window before also vanishing down the black alleyway. Illuminated by the glare of the street lamp, she recognised with complete confusion the golden-brown eyes and dark auburn hair of the college cleaner. The whole scene was over within seconds, and half of Bay's mind was convinced that she was losing the plot. Yet the other half was on the verge of complete panic, certain that the child had looked very tangible. Overwhelmed, she found herself able to do nothing but sit there, frozen, piercing gaze burning a hole in the pavement where the child had apparently stood only seconds ago.

Author notes-

So I realised that I completely forgot a disclaimer last chapter so here goes: I don't own anything relating to The Lord Of The Rings trilogy as it all belongs to the wonderful Tolkein.

And also as a side note, I hope nobody was offended by Ava's comment about the cleaner being 'fit', I don't support objectifying people or anything!

Thanks for reading/following! Please feel free to review, and I will try to keep updating frequently as possible :)


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